Srimathi Madhavi Ammal, a staunch devotee, was fortunate in having many opportunities to talk to Sri Bhagavan freely and appeal to him direct for upadesa. Sri Bhagavan made things easy for her in many ways, one of which was talking to her in her native Malayalam. He gave a patient hearing to her tales of woe which were many. This is visible in a film on Sri Bhagavan which is screened occasionally at the Ashram. The devotee seems to have almost wrested the upadesa from the Guru by her perseverance according to the following narrative of hers.

Bhagavan Sree Ramana is a guru to all those who have faith in him. He is a rare combination of bhakti and jnana. Some devotees feel that they are led through jnana towards Self-knowledge. Each individual is helped or taught by him either through silence or sometimes by words according to the needs of that person. Therefore, one is not aware what another gets by way of help from the guru and that becomes clear when the devotees compare notes of their experience.

In my heart of hearts I was deeply thinking whether I could be so fortunate as to have a photo taken along with Sri Bhagavan. A good and pious idea indeed! But, the question of its fulfilment was entirely left to the entire grace of guru dev.

People who visited Sri Bhagavan during his life time, could not have failed to observe the characteristic pose in which he reclined on his sofa with eyes closed and his head supported with his left arm, particularly at the time of Vedaparayana and so on.